Open cluster to HMXB associations allowed us to retrace the history of binaries and to provide estimation of the ZAMS mass of both components as well as of the mass transfer from primary to secondary. In the case of HD 259440, the only HMXB associated to a cluster without a detected spin-period, the mass history lead us to suggest that the binary indeed has a neutron star accretor. The information about evolution timescales and spatial distribution that results from inferring the history of observed HMXBs in the Milky Way may be of interest in the scope of population synthesis models and the modeling of the X-ray luminosity of galaxies (see e.g. [1]} [1]}). We also reckon that a finer modeling of their evolution using more accurate hydrodynamical simulations might be facilitated when looking to establish a link between the current population of HMXBs and the population of gravitational wave mergers, and it would be a great opportunity to combine observation and simulation to test our knowledge on various key mechanisms that dictate the life of binaries, e.g. the mass transfer, the supernova events and the common envelope phase [3]}.
